Tori Amos Questions Whether NC Gay Marriage Ban 'Christ-like'

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Singer-songwriter Tori Amos answered many controversial questions including her opinion on gay marriage and Christianity in an interview with Between the Lines last month.

Bouncing off North Carolina’s efforts to amend its constitution to define marriage between a man and a woman, BTL reporter Chris Azzopardi asked Amos, a gay icon and N.C. native, how she felt about the state’s previous ban on gay marriage.

“What I think is so strange. It is,” Amos said. “I just don’t understand how you can see yourself as Christian and have no compassion for another person’s path. It goes against the Christ-like energy and light that I was brought up with.”

Amos, the daughter of a southern Methodist minister, half jokingly said, “I’ve gone to church enough for almost every woman in America!”

Azzopardi asked Amos if there was hope for Michelle Bachmann. She replied”

“I do know the political side and how it works. If I could sit down with these people you’re mentioning, I’d say, ‘I thought Jesus was about love and not about judgment and damnation.’”

In early Sept., the Huffington Post reported that N.C. residents would vote whether to amend state constitution to ban same-sex marriage in May 2012, after the state Senate approved legislation.

Even though Amos’ interview with BTL was to promote “Night of Hunters,” her twelfth album in over several decades, the star explored many issues of faith and politics as it relates to gay marriage in N.C.

She said, “I think there’s hope for people who are judgmental. But how can they call themselves a Christian and then insist that gay people don’t have the right to be married? Then gay people shouldn’t have to pay taxes in the state of Carolina!”

In the interview, the star described her minister father’s embrace of the idea that gay people deserved equal rights in addition to commenting on the bullying and suicide of LGBT teens.

Amos responded to the series of suicides among gay youth in the last year as a result of bullying – commenting specifically on the suicide of 14-year old Jamey Rodemeyer.

She said, “The people that are not accepting them and bullying them call themselves Christian, and that is a lie. You are not a Christian if you treat people like that. I don’t care what office you’re running for. You are just not. That is not the definition of walking the Christ-like path.”

A recent poll performed by Elon University in N.C. showed that 56 percent of students in the Tar Heel State opposed gay marriage. The survey, released Friday, polled 594 N.C. residents.

Mileah Kromer, the assistant director of the Elon University Poll, said the ballot referendum that could ban same-sex marriage would be the issue to watch.

“With North Carolinians so divided on this issue, expect a tough battle over the next few months as both sides attempt to sway public opinion in their favor,” she said in a statement.